ADAC GT MASTERS, BMW STEAL THE SHOW AT SACHSENRING

A cloudburst just before the start and brilliant sunshine at the finish: Poor visibility and a treacherous track made exceptional demands on the skills of the drivers in the second of the two ADAC GT Masters races at the Sachsenring. Coping best with the conditions were Maximilian Sandritter (24) and Jens Klingmann (22) in their BMW Z4 who crossed the finish line just ahead of team-mates Claudia Hürtgen (41) and Austrian Dominik Baumann (20) to register a one-two victory for PIXUM Team Schubert. Occupying the third rung in the podium party were the winners of Saturday’s race, Christopher Mies (24) and René Rast (26) who share the cockpit of a Prosperia C. Abt Racing Audi R8. “We only completed one of the first four races of the season,” said Sandritter after claiming his first ever ADAC GT Masters winner’s trophy, “so just finishing was our main priority this weekend. To get the bonus of a win is like a dream come true.”

Perfectly timed pit stop key to victory

The race over hill and dale in Saxony, which went ahead in wet conditions, was dominated by the two PIXUM Team Schubert BMW Z4s. FIA GT European champion Baumann got off to a perfect start, moving up from third on the grid to pass his team-mate Jens Klingmann and lead the field going into the first turn. In tricky conditions, the pair set a blistering pace, opening up an 8-second gap over the pursuing pack before the pit stop window, with the track drying out all the time.

A perfectly timed pit stop from Klingmann and Sandritter then resulted in a change in lead. Second-placed Klingmann came into the pits one lap before his leading team-mate and opted for slicks. On the slick tyres, Sandritter picked up ten seconds on Baumann who was still on wet weather tyres. This caused the lead to change hands, with Sandritter passing Hürtgen as she emerged from the pit lane. But she wasn’t going to go down without a fight. After the safety car was deployed for debris to be cleared from the track, there were more tense moments for Sandritter, with his lead over Hürtgen now having been cut. Yet Sandritter kept a cool head after the restart, securing victory by 0.6 seconds over his fellow PIXUM Team Schubert driver.

“Despite the enormous pressure Claudia put me under, I tried to focus solely on my race,” said Sandritter after the race. “With the car being in fine form today, it was fairly easy for me to stay out in front.”

“I’m only a guest this weekend in the ADAC GT Masters, standing in for Jörg Müller,” said Jens Klingmann, four-time race winner in the ADAC GT Masters, “so I didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks at the start. That enabled Dominik Baumann to take the lead. In the first half of the race, our sister car was quicker than us, and you don’t launch an attack on team-mates when they’re out in front. Consequently, the perfect timing of the pit stop was the key to victory.”

Christian Engelhart (26) and Nicolas Armindo (31) in the Geyer & Weinig EDV – Schütz Motorsport Porsche 911 crossed the line in third place. However, the two Porsche drivers were hit with a 30-second time penalty for a breach of yellow flag rules and were bumped down to eleventh. Christopher Mies and René Rast in the Audi R8 were consequently promoted to third, which also handed them the lead in the overall standings after this third weekend of the ADAC GT Masters season.

Rahel Frey (27) and Christopher Haase (25) in a Prosperia C. Abt Racing Audi and the Callaway Competition Corvette pairing of Diego Alessi (41) and Daniel Keilwitz (23) suffered the same fate as Engelhart and Armindo, with both being demoted from fourth and sixth place respectively for contravening rules under the yellow flag. This means that Mario Farnbacher (21) and Philipp Frommenwiler (23) in the Farnbacher Racing Porsche 911 and the Dutch duo of Simon Knap (24) and Jeroen den Boer (25) in the DB Motorsport BMW Z4 moved up to fourth and fifth respectively.

Best result yet for Nissan in ADAC GT Masters

Locally based Schulze Motorsport will have been delighted to score their best ADAC GT Masters result to date in their Nissan GT-R. Brothers Tobias Schulze (31) and Michael Schulze (28) from nearby Weißenfels notched up their first ever points with a P9 finish.

Debut victory for Gerd Beisel in Gentlemen stakes

The race caused a few upsets in the Gentlemen standings, with both Paul Green (20) in the Vita4One Racing Team BMW Z4 and René Bourdeaux (38) in the Tonino powered by Herberth Porsche 911 having to retire in the second stint whilst leading in their class. This opened up the way for Corvette man Gerd Beisel (55) who, with the support of his RWT Racing team-mate Sven Barth (32), claimed a maiden victory on his first outing in the ADAC GT Masters. Second place went to Remo Lips (31) from Switzerland driving a Callaway Competition Corvette and ably assisted by ADAC Sports Foundation protégé Lennart Marioneck (24).